Using a helium cryostat, the temperature for a substrate wafer(s) is reduced to 2.2 Kelvin over a period of twenty-four hours. Next, a soak segment will hold the temperature of the substrate wafer at 2.2 Kelvins for a period of ninety-six hours. At these low temperatures, alloys such as GaAs, InP, and GaP will form dipole molecular moments, which will re-align along lines of internal magnetic force as molecular bonds condense. Next the substrate wafer's temperature is ramped up to room temperature over a period of twenty-four hours. Next, the temperature of the substrate wafer is ramped up to assure that the temperature gradients made to occur within the wafer are kept low. Typically, a temper ramp up temperature will range between 300° F. to 1100° F. and depends upon the single crystal material used to construct the substrate wafer. Next, the substrate wafer undergoes a temper hold segment, which assures that the entire substrate wafer has had the benefit of the tempering temperature. A typical temper hold segment is around 3 hours and depends upon the material, thickness, and diameter size of the substrate wafer.
Legal claims defining the scope of protection, as filed with the USPTO.
1. A method, comprising: removing crystallographic defects from single crystal material, wherein the single crystal material is selected from a group consisting of diamagnetic single crystal material and paramagnetic single crystal material, and wherein the crystallographic defects comprise defects selected from a group consisting of dislocation defects and point defects, and wherein removing the crystallographic defects comprises: ramping-down of temperature for the single crystal material at a cooling rate and to a ramped-down temperature that is below ambient and sufficient to remove the crystallographic defects from the single crystal material; and ramping-up, after the ramping-down, of the temperature for the single crystal material from the ramped-down temperature to ambient.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the ramping-down is performed over a twenty-four hour period.
3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, prior to the ramping-up, maintaining the temperature of the single crystal material at the ramped-down temperature for a soak period.
4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the soak period is ninety-six hours.
5. The method of claim 3 , wherein the soak period is over ninety-six hours.
6. The method of claim 3 , wherein the soak period comprises a time period sufficient to remove the crystallographic defects from the single crystal material.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the ramping-up is performed over a twenty-four hour period.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the ramping-down is performed over a period sufficient to remove the crystallographic defects from the single crystal material.
9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the ramping-up is performed over a period sufficient to remove the crystallographic defects from the single crystal material.
10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the ramping-down comprises ramping-down the temperature of the single crystal material using a cryostat.
11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the cryostat comprises helium.
12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the cryostat comprises liquid helium.
13. The method of claim 10 , wherein the cryostat comprises nitrogen.
14. The method of claim 10 , wherein the cryostat comprises liquid nitrogen.
15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the ramped-down temperature is approximately 2.2 degrees kelvin.
16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the ramped-down temperature is approximately 77 degrees kelvin.
17. The method of claim 1 , wherein the single crystal material comprises at least one III-V column periodic table element.
18. The method of claim 1 , wherein the single crystal material comprises material selected from a group consisting of: InP; GaAs; InAs; GaP; InGaN; GaN; Ge; and Si.
19. The method of claim 1 , wherein the single crystal material comprises at least one wafer.
20. The method of claim 1 , wherein the single crystal material comprises at least one epilayer.
21. The method of claim 1 , wherein the single crystal material comprises at least one boule.
22. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, after ramping-up, performing a temper cycle that elevates the temperature of the single crystal material above the ambient to an above-ambient temperature level sufficient enough to provide for tempering of the single crystal material.
23. The method of claim 22 , further comprising after performing the temper cycle that elevates the temperature of the single crystal material above the ambient, holding the temperature of the single crystal material at the temper cycle temperature level for a temper period.
24. The method of claim 22 , wherein the temper cycle temperature level is between 300 degrees fahrenheit and 1100 degrees fahrenheit.
25. The method of claim 23 , wherein the temper period is three hours.
26. The method of claim 23 , wherein the temper period is over three hours.
27. A method comprising: removing crystallographic point defects from single crystal material, wherein the single crystal material is selected from a group consisting of diamagnetic single crystal material and paramagnetic single crystal material, and wherein removing the crystallographic point defects comprises: ramping-down of temperature for the single crystal material at a cooling rate and to a ramped-down temperature that is below ambient and sufficient to remove the crystallographic point defects from the single crystal material; and ramping-up, after the ramping-down, of the temperature for the single crystal material from the ramped-down temperature to ambient.
28. The method of claim 27 , wherein ramping-down the temperature of the single crystal material is done over a period of twenty-four hours.
29. The method of claim 27 , wherein ramping-down the temperature of the single crystal material is accomplished using nitrogen.
30. The method of claim 27 , wherein the ramped-down temperature for the single crystal material is approximately seventy-six degrees kelvin.
31. The method of claim 27 , wherein ramping-down the temperature of the single crystal material is accomplished using helium.
32. The method of claim 27 , wherein the ramped-down temperature for the single crystal material is approximately 2.2 degrees kelvin.
33. The method of claim 27 , further comprising maintaining the ramped-down temperature for the single crystal material for a soak period.
34. The method of claim 33 , wherein the soak period is ninety-six hours.
35. The method of claim 33 , wherein the soak period is over ninety-six hours.
36. The method of claim 27 , wherein the ramping-up to ambient is done over a period of twenty-four hours.
37. The method of claim 27 , further comprising, following the ramping-up, elevating the temperature of the single crystal material from ambient to a heat-treat temperature level that is above ambient.
38. The method of claim 37 , further comprising, after elevating, holding the temperature of the single crystal material at the heat-treat temperature level for a temper period.
39. The method of claim 38 , wherein the temper period is three hours.
40. The method of claim 38 , wherein the heat-treat temperature level is between 300 degrees fahrenheit and 1100 degrees fahrenheit.
41. The method of claim 27 , wherein the single crystal material comprises at least one III-V column periodic table element.
42. The method of claim 27 , wherein the single crystal material comprises material taken from group: Si, Ge, GaAs, InP, GaN, GaP, or InAs.
43. The method of claim 27 , wherein removing crystallographic point defects comprises removing vacancy defects.
44. The method of claim 27 , wherein the single crystal material comprises a single crystal semiconductor material.
45. The method of claim 27 , wherein the single crystal material comprises a single crystal substrate.
46. The method of claim 27 , wherein the single crystal material comprises a single crystal boule.
47. A method, comprising: removing crystallographic dislocation defects from single crystal material, wherein the single crystal material is selected from a group consisting of diamagnetic single crystal material and paramagnetic single crystal material, and wherein removing the crystallographic dislocation defects comprises: ramping-down of temperature for a the single crystal material at a cooling rate and to a ramped-down temperature that is below ambient and sufficient to remove the crystallographic dislocation defects from the single crystal material; and ramping-up, after the ramping-down, of the temperature for the single crystal material from the ramped-down temperature to ambient.
48. The method of claim 47 , wherein the ramping-down of the temperature for the single crystal material is done over a twenty-four hour period.
49. The method of claim 47 , wherein the ramping-down of the temperature for the single crystal material is accomplished using nitrogen.
50. The method of claim 47 , wherein the ramping-down of the temperature for the single crystal material is accomplished using liquid nitrogen.
51. The method of claim 47 , wherein the ramping-down of the temperature for the single crystal material is accomplished using helium.
52. The method of claim 47 , wherein the ramping-down of the temperature for the single crystal material is accomplished using liquid helium.
53. The method of claim 47 , further comprising maintaining the ramped-down temperature for the single crystal material for a soak period.
54. The method of claim 53 , wherein the soak period is ninety-six hours.
55. The method of claim 53 , wherein the soak period is over ninety-six hours.
56. The method of claim 47 , wherein ramping-up of the temperature for the single crystal material is done over a period of twenty-four hours.
57. The method of claim 47 , further comprising following the ramping-up step, heating the single crystal material from ambient to a heat-treat temperature level.
58. The method of claim 57 , further comprising following the step of heating the single crystal material from ambient to the heat-treat temperature level, holding the temperature of the single crystal material for a temper hold period.
59. The method of claim 58 , wherein the temper hold period is three hours.
60. The method of claim 57 , wherein the heat-treat temperature level ranges between 300 degrees fahrenheit to 1100 degrees fahrenheit.
61. The method of claim 47 , wherein the single crystal material comprises at least one III-V column periodic table element.
62. The method of claim 47 , wherein the single crystal material comprises material taken from group: Si, Ge, GaAs, InP, GaN, GaP, or InAs.
63. The method of claim 47 , wherein the single crystal material comprises a single crystal semiconductor material.
64. The method of claim 47 , wherein the single crystal material comprises a single crystal substrate.
65. The method of claim 47 , wherein the single crystal material comprises a single crystal boule.
66. The method of claim 47 , wherein the single crystal material comprises a single crystal epilayered material.
67. A method for eliminating crystal defects from a single crystal wafer, comprising: placing the single crystal wafer into a wafer holding capsule apparatus, the wafer holding capsule apparatus comprising: a plastic tube having an inner-wall diameter size slightly larger than the single crystal wafer; a first high-flux disk shaped magnet positioned at the bottom of the plastic tube; first and second pyrolytic carbon disks having the same diameter size as the first magnet, wherein the first pyrolytic carbon disk is placed into the tube above the first high-flux disk shaped magnet and wherein the single crystal wafer is sandwiched between the first and second pyrolytic carbon disks; and a second high-flux disk shaped magnet placed into the tube above the second pyrolytic carbon disk; ramping-down the temperature of the single crystal wafer holding capsule apparatus containing the single crystal wafer to a ramped-down temperature that is below ambient and sufficient to remove crystallographic defects from the single crystal wafer; and ramping-up the temperature of the single crystal wafer holding capsule apparatus containing the single crystal wafer from the ramped-down temperature to an ambient temperature level.
68. The method of claim 67 , further comprising, following the ramping-up to the ambient temperature level, heating the single crystal to the tempering temperature level in a furnace equipped with a superconducting magnet system.
69. A method, comprising: removing crystallographic defects from single crystal epilayered material, wherein the single crystal epilayered material is selected from a group consisting of diamagnetic single crystal material and paramagnetic single crystal material, and wherein the crystallographic defects are selected from a group consisting of dislocation defects and point defects, and wherein removing the crystallographic defects comprises: ramping-down of temperature for the single crystal epilayered material at a cooling rate and to a ramped-down temperature that is below ambient and sufficient to remove the crystallographic defects from the single crystal epilayered material; and ramping-up, after the ramping-down, of the temperature for the single crystal epilayered material at an elevating rate and to a ramped-up temperature that is below ambient and sufficient to remove the crystallographic defects from the single crystal epilayered material.
70. The method of claim 27 , wherein the single crystal material comprises a single crystal epilayered material.
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February 10, 2009
October 1, 2013
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